Helen Zille blasts “trolls and bots” for dragging her into Gigaba expenses row

"Bots" is just "fake news" but for 2018. That's our hot take.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 24: Premier Helen Zille and Democratic Alliance (DA) leader Mmusi Maimane address a crowd at the Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone on January 24, 2018 in Cape Town, South Africa. Maimane addressed the national government and the Minister of Water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokoyane about not fulfilling their duties in the Western Cape. (Photo by Gallo Images / Netwerk24 / Adrian de Kock)

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has been forced to take on the “trolls and bots of the ANC & EFF”, following the fallout from Norma Gigaba’s taxpayer-funded spending spree.

Mrs Gigaba – whose husband Malusi is the current minister of home affairs – has been chastised this week, after it came to light that Norma’s trips abroad were nothing more than “a series of intercontinental shopping trips“.

That’s according to DA Shadow Minister of Finance David Maynier, anyway. He supplied the minister with a question about his own business abroad and asked how much public money has gone towards his wife’s jet-setting lifestyle.

How much has Norma Gigaba cost taxpayers

Gigaba came back with a clear indication of which trip and a total amount spent: According to the reply, R873 366.68 was spent on the international travel for Norma alone. Gigaba and his wife visited China, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Of course, politics is a funny old game. If you’re ever backed into a corner, you don’t repair your own image. You simply try and tear down someone else’s. Attention has since shifted to Helen Zille, who faced some accusations of lavish spending herself.

What has it got to do with Helen Zille?

The DA stalwart was called out for allegedly doing the same thing the Gigaba’s did, by taking her husband on a trip to Singapore at taxpayer expense, to the tune of R127,000. However, these claims are strongly rejected by Zille.

She blames an influx of Twitter “trolls and bots” for trying to equate her expenses to those of Norma Gigaba. Yet it seems one of those bots is actually EFF National Spokesperson, Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.

EFF + ANC trolls+bots trying to equate my husband’s travel to Norma Gigaba. In 10 years, my husband’s entire travel bill with me is under R64,000. He also did free research abroad and produced a useful research paper on skills development, submitted to province. No shopping.

Can ministers use taxpayer money to pay for their spouse’s travel costs?

While ministers are allowed to bring their partners on business trips abroad, the only issue with Norma – or any free-spending spouse – is a moral one, rather than a legal one.

Just because one can take advantage of the system doesn’t mean they should to such a gratuitous extent. Yep, you guessed it. We’re in for another thrilling round of “pay back the money”. The more things change, the more they stay the same.